Technical Corner

"OLD TAPE STORY" by Jens Haftorn, NRK

Dear Tedd,

You asked me if I could write the story of the old tapes I showed you. So I do. A story of some old tapes which I have tried to save from fading away like many other tapes. The videotapes were produced by SONY and 3M: reel to reel videotapes. The tapes had been stored badly. I found the tapes in a garage with a high degree of moisture. On the tapes you could see the moisture. The shots on the tapes were made about 25 years ago. And the tapes did not look good at all. When I pulled the tape from the reel it sounded like moving or pulling out a adhesive tape. What to do with the tapes? I did it my way.

The procedure of my work can be described in this way: I cleaned the tapes by using an ordinary tape recorder. The tape recorder was made for 10 1/2" reels. The engine is a good one and the distance between the reels is larger which makes it easier to clean the tapes. I put the tape from one reel to the other.

I then put a sock over the tape and held the sock with one finger. Wind the whole tape while pressing the sock against the tape. I turned the sock to use the clean part of it, too. The tape was wound back to the beginning. Then I heated the tape in a stove for a few hours. I used about 55-60 degrees Celsius in the stove. The purpose of the so-called heating of the tape was to make the glue of the tape stronger. Then the tape was cooled and I could play the tape again without any problems. That is the end of my story of some old and forgotten tapes. Try it yourself.

Best regards
Jens